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Israeli commanders said today that Israel intended to enforce a no-go zone extending about a half-mile north of the border.
Israel also confirmed what an army spokesman described as a "very small incursion" overnight to dismantle Hezbollah positions, returning to Israel before first light. No casualties were reported.
The developments came one day after Israel and Hezbollah escalated their blood feud, as dozens of Lebanese died during airstrikes across their nation and the eight Israelis were killed when militants slammed rockets into the port city of Haifa.
As explosions shook the earth and families cowered in shelters, both sides vowed to deliver even fiercer blows in the days to come. And world leaders struggled to find a diplomatic path out of the bloodshed.
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Although Israel's clash is with Hezbollah, the attacks on this seaside country appear to have done far greater damage to Lebanese civilians and infrastructure. Hezbollah has continued to shoot an unabated barrage of rockets into Israel, in turn frequently hitting civilians, even after Israeli missiles shattered the airport and highways, struck predominantly Christian neighborhoods and drove thousands of people from their homes.
Israel has attacked Hezbollah offices and the headquarters of the group's leader. But about 1,500 airstrikes have also targeted a lighthouse, grain silos, power plants, bridges, airports and a truck packed with children, targets with no apparent relationship to Hezbollah.
"Why are we killing each other? Why are we creating these victims?" asked 60-year-old Yemen Srour, a Lebanese woman whose home was crushed and family members wounded in Sunday morning attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs.
Crouched on a thin foam mattress at a makeshift refugee shelter in Beirut, Srour used the tails of her Islamic head scarf to dab the tears from her cheeks. "I don't think there is a point to this," she said.
Despite the relentless bombings, Israel has not disrupted Hezbollah's leadership or smashed the militants' ability to wage guerrilla war, said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's chief.
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Former Israeli army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz, now a Cabinet minister, described the rockets used in the Haifa strike as "Syrian ammunition." Israel also said Hezbollah had made first use of Iranian-made Fajr missiles, with a 25-mile range and a much bigger warhead.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed the criticism of Syria and Iran on Sunday, blaming them in part for the crisis.
"I absolutely see that Syria and Iran are playing a part in this. They're not even trying to hide their hand," Rice said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." Rice declined to say whether the U.S. would go so far as to support Israel if it chose to strike Iran in retaliation for that country's alleged role in some of the missile strikes hitting Israel.
Many Lebanese scoff at criticism that Hezbollah is using Iranian-made weaponry, pointing out bitterly that the United States manufactures much of Israel's arsenal.
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And buried at the end of this lengthy
article is this:
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported that elite forces had been deployed in Lebanon.
But Israeli military analysts said a large-scale ground offensive would occur only after military strategists felt that other options — including the air campaign, the naval blockade and the severing of major land routes — had been exhausted.